8-30-2009 Week in Review

Yeah for Photoshoots and Making Money!!!

But let’s start with Monday….

We decided it should be the laziest day of the Year!! and it was a complete success!!  GO US!

Tuesday – The first day of school…..

Okay, I know, I LOVE to take pics and I have no pictures of the boys first day…or even their first week (they really need haircuts and that’s my main excuse!).  Dade slipped out to the bus stop at 6am.  As excited as Corben was he was still dragging (we all were) yet we somehow made it to school with plenty of time.  Ella cried and cried as we drove away…it’s going to be a hard adjustment for the girls to be without their brothers all day!

Wednesday we headed out early to take pictures of my sweet niece and nephew and then have some time at the pool with the rest of the cousins.  We found this Great park with old barns I think we got some cute pics.  There are, of course a million more, but I’ve not had time to even look at them!

   

The rest of the week was a blur.  Why does it seem like more work to have two at home than to have four?!!  (Probably because the older ones helped so much!)  Anyway, Friday rolled around and I sent Corben off for a weekend with my mom out of town.  I came home to find out we had a sick family member.  Let’s just say it was a long sleepless night!  Saturday, with much trepidation, I headed out to a birthday party with the girls.  (Thank you Facebook for reuniting me with one of my best friends from high school!)  It was fun to help celebrate her son’s first birthday!

  

   

  

Saturday afternoon was a bit crazy and I’m thankful for friends and family who were willing to help us out.  My fabulous (I need to look in the dictionary to find a word that means most fabulous of the fabulous – loving – amazing- selfless- caring…..) SIL’s took the kids Sunday so Ryan and I could have a day simply to rest.  Yeah for rest!!  So, that’s it….oh wait….

A Special Thank You to all my friends this week who referred me as a photographer to their friends.  I am More than thankful!!

New pics posted……

For those of you who like an update!  I have new pics posted on my photo blog…..

http://csheritage.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

15 Lessons learned from a week without….

So, did you do it??  I know a few of you did.  Let me know so we can celebrate and I can give you your bribe!!  At my house we survived an entire week with no internet & no tv!!  So, like last years week without, here are the things I learned….

1.  This was much easier this time around!  I think that over the last year I’ve come to recognize the amount of time I should/shouldn’t be on the computer and had already been cutting down.  I will admit, I filled much of the time this week with a book…that I probably should have put down more often and played with a kid, but at least it wasn’t Facebook!  Saturday was the hardest because I was trying to convince myself that since I was so NOT addicted to the computer and the week had gone so smoothly that I didn’t need to stay away another day, I was already cured…LOL.

2.  The children handled it much better this time though the girls almost died without TV.  Miss Ella NEEDS background noise to stay sane sometimes so there was a lot more fighting going on, though by end of week they were doing MUCH better.

3.  My kids LOVE music and they just don’t listen to it often enough.  It was nice to dance a little.

4.  Dade discovered and learned so much more about programming this week than he does glued to the computer because he actually spend hours contemplating ideas and reading and studying about them.

5.  We spent a lot more time DOING things!  It was so nice to see my kids playing together!  (And smiling together!)

6.  I talked to one friend (that lives far away) on the phone for almost 3 hours.  Did you know that that phone call was more reassuring and uplifting than any 10 comments on my blog or facebook status and actually laughing OUT LOUD to each other instead of just “lol”ing was SO much more fun and exhilarating.

7.  I so miss reading a book!!  I have truly loved it this week!

8.  Though I still didn’t get my long to do list done…(I blame the book)…I did spend much more time with the kids and we got a lot more done than usual!  Martha Stewart would be proud of my linen closet!!

9.  The world did not crash and burn without me.  No friends died not knowing my status, life went on without me and I was fine with it!

10.  We actually held FHE for the first successful time in forever (I’m ashamed to say) but we did it and it was fun!

11.  Not spending all my time looking for old friends paid off.  4 of them found ME this week!! and I didn’t have to do a thing!!

12.  People don’t like it when you drive 25 mph in a 35 mph zone even if it’s because you’re demonstrating to your children, who have just left the library full of information, how fast a rhino can run!  But whatever, it was very educational!

13.  I don’t need to post how I’m doing so that someone knows….the people who really care and miss me CALL and ASK me!!  And Heavenly Father sends the rest to my aide when I need them…..

….this doesn’t mean I won’t be posting my status anyway…it’s fun!

14.  I was in bed by 10pm every night this week!  YEAH!!  I feel so rested!

15.  I REALLY love spending time with my kids…they’re pretty awesome!!  I am SO blessed!!

8-23-2009 Week in Review – A week without!!!

What does a family do without TV or internet for a week??  WELL, the FIRST day is the worst.  Everyone sits/lays around whining and complaining about there being nothing to do.  They argue and fight incessantly and you want to scream….you get over it.  You simply start assigning chores and they all quickly find SOMETHING to do!!

Tuesday while running errands I surprised Corben as an early birthday present and stopped in at……

He got 20 free tokens for his birthday and then wandered around playing a few games and collecting his prize (2 dum dum lollipops).  It was fun to spend time just me and him!

 

Wednesday was CORBEN’s BIRTHDAY!!  HE’s NINE YEARS OLD!!  Time sure does fly by!  It was a busy afternoon.  Corben has Pack Meeting so I rushed to finish his Dragon Cake.  I forgot his wings in my rush so just use your imagination!!

We then headed out the door with Corben to spend his last afternoon as a Wolf Scout!

Here is Corben getting his Wolf Badge and transferring to the ranks of BEAR SCOUT!!

Fama read an awesome poem about Corben turning into a bear…..

….and then we headed outside for watermelon and a seed spitting contest!

 

Then it was home again to celebrate the birthday boy and eat the dragon cake w/homemade ice cream!! YUM!!

 

Thursday we went to meet Corben’s teacher at school.  I joked in the parking lot that it was going to be a man (thinking there were no 4th grade male teachers) and that Corben would get pile drived every time he didn’t do his homework.  Sure enough, what do ya know, there is a male 4th grade teacher and Corben got him!!  He seems too nice to pile drive though.  Oh well.

Now Friday, Friday was quite the adventure.  We started out bright and early racing to go meet a ton of friends at a local children’s museum!!  The girls had a BLAST!!

I think we spent over an hour in the block area….

       

We went straight from the museum to go visit Aunt Jamie & Uncle Mark for a bit.  It was rainy but we had fun anyway!!

The REAL ADVENTURE happened on the way home!!  Part way down a MAJOR road in MAJOR traffic and in the middle of a torrential downpour w/thunder and lightening right over head I decided to turn on the brights……

EVERYTHING IN THE CAR SHUT OFF!!!…….EVERYTHING!!!  I then had to figure out how to maneuver a shut off car across several lanes of traffic in the rain to the side of the road!  I was shaking like a leaf but we made it safely.  I tried to turn the key but there was nothing….so, I then hopped out (into the rain) and checked under the hood.  A good Samaritan pulled up behind and I held the hood up while he hooked the jumper cables up to see if we could get it to start.  Can I tell you that I have never stood in rain like that before??  I could not see more than a couple of feet in front of my face and there was lightening and thunder flashing all around.  I kept jumping!  The jump worked and our new friend followed us into town to make sure we made it.  It is NO FUN riding in a car with the A/C on when you are soaked to the BONE!!  At this point we were racing because Dade had his school open house in an hour and he was worried I’d actually go looking like I did LOL.  We headed to Ryan’s work where he gave the car a clean bill of health but cleaned all the connectors and tightened them.  We raced home where Ryan soon met us so Dade and I could rush out to the school.  We were 8 minutes late.  Not bad!

The new school is great and the teachers seem nice.  I think Dade is a bit more excited now about school.  As soon as we got home I rushed across the street to a neighbor’s Pampered Chef party and finally stumbled home exhausted around 9pm.

Saturday was a lazy rainy day.  I actually caught Dade and Corben outside enjoying the pouring rain together.  I even caught them SMILING!!

 

Ryan hung out in the newly painted playhouse (thanks Dade!) with Corben for a bit.

 

Today was another wonderful lazy day.  Corben and I had a wonderful walk around the neighborhood together and got a lot of talking done.  I sure love that kid!!  Now off to eat dinner and enjoy the family!!